Changing ISPs and Keeping your number

[Triple111]

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding changing ISPs.  I’m switching back to Bell and my wife will be taking over my Public Mobile account.  I want to retain my current phone number.  

Should I let Bell port the number first, or should I change my number with Public Mobile first?  I don't want to lose my existing number, as it used to be our landline.  I assume the only way “not” to lose this number is via porting it over first.  I just want to make sure that after porting I can still change the number associated with my PM SIM.

Does this make sense?

Thanx

[dabr]

@Luddite   Thank you for clarifying PM's policy in the past...yep too bad it's no longer permitted.  

[Luddite]

@dabr  FYI: there once was a workaround to transfer numbers between PM accounts and accomplish this wish; though it did require opening a second PM account.

Ah, the good old days. 

[dabr]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

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@Triple111 wrote:

@darlicious @HALIMACS @BlueB @RosieR @dabr 

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

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You're welcome, @Triple111 

@darlicious and all had great responses on this.   I was especially surprised that @dabr advises this was something that could have been done more easily in the past.

Please do request Bell's Customer Retention and/or Customer Loyalty department.  They have greater levels of discretion then front-end staff and will do what they can to secure your service.

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@HALIMACS   Yeah, I'm actually not 100% sure if that used to be permitted or not at PM in the past.  It's possible I might be confusing it with what was permitted at VM which I can 100% confirm plus discussion on transfer of numbers between PM accounts which was once permitted before being discontinued I believe.  

However, I'm sure that either @srlawren or @Luddite would be able to clarify what PM's policy might have been in the past for this kind of situation.

[hTideGnow]

I thought the OP main concern is to keep the phone number and got confused if he can just keep transfer his current PM account but at the same time port out the number to Bell.

[darlicious]

@hTideGnow 

If the OP chooses to port out the number and close the account and activate a new sim card/account for his wife I would suggest he reaches out to a member of the community thru private messaging and ask for a referral code ( or any of their friends or family that may be a pm customer). Why not allow someone to benefit from the monthly $1 referral reward.....the $10 bonus credit is recieved regardless of whose referral code it comes from.

[BlueB]

@darlicious Thanks for the clarifications.  I tried to simplify some of what we're talking about because it gets complicated quite quickly.  Some things may have changed but regardless, I'm glad that it's somewhat working out for the OP. 🙂

[RosieR]

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@Triple111 wrote:

@darlicious @HALIMACS @BlueB @RosieR @dabr 

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

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you're welcome @Triple111  I hope you make the correct decision.

now, enjoy your weekend

RosieR

[darlicious]

@BlueB 

Phone numbers immediately revert back to the original provider (within an hour or two similar to number porting timing without the fraudulent porting protections.) The number pool is not "locked" it simply holds numbers so they are not reassigned to quickly causing a large amount of niusance calls to the new account holder from the former phone number account holder's contacts. Account holders do not own their phone numbers. Phone number ownership is retained by the original provider of the phone number. In a sense the customer has the "lease" on the phone number and retains it as long as the phone number is transferable which in a few regions in Canada is not possible.

[HALIMACS]

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@Triple111 wrote:

@darlicious @HALIMACS @BlueB @RosieR @dabr 

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

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You're welcome, @Triple111 

@darlicious and all had great responses on this.   I was especially surprised that @dabr advises this was something that could have been done more easily in the past.

Please do request Bell's Customer Retention and/or Customer Loyalty department.  They have greater levels of discretion then front-end staff and will do what they can to secure your service.

[hTideGnow]

@Triple111 

I think the proper way to do is

1. Get a SIM  card for your wife, open a new account for your wife with the referral code from your own account to save the $10

2. Now, once wife account is setup, open the Bell account , if not yet done so, and start requested to port your OLD PM number into Bell

3. Once Bell completed the transfer, your own PM account will be closed.

Yes, with this , your own account will be closed and you will loss all your refer friend bonus + loyalty discount.  Unfortunately, this is the safest way to keep your account.

There might be other ways  like the number will be back in the Bell's pool and you can get your number back with Bell's help or after 60 days or so.  But all these have a risk of loosing your account.  Unless you know someone in Bell and promise you they can get the number back, i won't risk it.

[Triple111]

@darlicious @HALIMACS @BlueB @RosieR @dabr 

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

[HALIMACS]

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@Triple111 wrote:

@dabr @BlueB @RosieR @HALIMACS @Camera4617 

Thanks everyone.  So hypothetically, if I were to change my current number with Public Mobile and keep the account, what happens to the old number that I want to keep?

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@Triple111 

As described in my post above, you'd want to make sure your dealing with the correct level at Bell to ensure you might have the ability to secure this number once it's changed at Public Mobile.  

What I'm unsure of is once Public Mobile enables the number change, does your old number become IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE to be picked up by another provider, and if it does, will Bell go out of their way to secure it for you.

Bell has a Customer Retention group (ask specifically for them) who, if they really want your service, will go through hoops to bring you over.  If you make it contingent on them being able to draw this number, maybe that's your angle with them.

Good luck!!!

[BlueB]

@darlicious described it well - it gets returned to the original provider and the theoretical possibility is as described.  Even knowing this, it may be possible that the Bell representative(s) that you talk to don't have access to this "locked" pool of recently used numbers.  Further, I'm not sure when it actually gets returned to the original provider (30 days comes to mind but I could be wrong) so it could still be locked (and forfeited) with Public Mobile for a period of time.  In this case, it may be Public Mobile who helps you... (this is getting complicated... lol :))

Finally, one other issue.  If Bell is able and willing to help, they would still need to identify that you're the owner of this Telephone Number.  If you've released it from your account, then "nobody" really owns it so make sure to have everything figured out before doing anything.

Even if everybody tells you and is willing to help, there's still a big risk that the number gets lost or is otherwise still inaccessible despite all efforts from everyone.

[RosieR]

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@Triple111 wrote:

@dabr @BlueB @RosieR @HALIMACS @Camera4617 

Thanks everyone.  So hypothetically, if I were to change my current number with Public Mobile and keep the account, what happens to the old number that I want to keep?

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@Triple111 you're welcome.  If you were to change your current number, the old number will  go back in the number pool which is available to everyone looking for a new phone number.  There is a minute possibility that when you activate a new account with Bell that your old number would still be in the pool.  But do you really want to risk losing your number?

RosieR

[darlicious · Accepted solution]

@Triple111 

You have a small possibility of doing this but you would have to see if Bell would be willing to work  with you to achieve this. To gain your custom they may go the extra mile. If you changed the number in your pm account the phone number ( your former landline) is then sent back to the original provider. In your case luckily this is Bell. It would be sent to their number pool which holds numbers usually for 60 to 90 days before reassignment. Working with Bell they could in theory retrieve your phone number from the pool and assign it to your new account. You would want to co-ordinate the timing of changing the pm phone number in the account with Bell. Call Bell and see if they would be willing and able to do this for you. Good luck.

[Triple111]

@dabr @BlueB @RosieR @HALIMACS @Camera4617 

Thanks everyone.  So hypothetically, if I were to change my current number with Public Mobile and keep the account, what happens to the old number that I want to keep?

[HALIMACS]

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@Triple111 wrote:

Thanks for the responses everyone.  Sorry I don’t know how to reply to all.  So if I understand correctly, the only way to keep a number is to port it? If I were to change my PM number first, could I ask Bell to assign my old number without porting?  I did a reverse lookup and it’s still listed as my original Bell landline.

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Hi @Triple111 

If it is vitally important for you to maintain the original number, you might want to get it absolutely confirmed with Bell that if you change the number with Public Mobile (to retain the account here and service), that they will be able to pull that number at that time. 

Timing may become important here and something you'll have to discuss with Bell.

It was possible for them to select a particular number (I've done it years ago), however it may not be a current practice for them to do now, and their front-line staff may be limited in their ability and discretion to provide this level of certainty.

I'd get it in writing from them, or from someone with a higher knowledge/discretionary level at Bell before changing your PM number.

[dabr]

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@Triple111 wrote:

Thanks for the responses everyone.  Sorry I don’t know how to reply to all.  So if I understand correctly, the only way to keep a number is to port it? If I were to change my PM number first, could I ask Bell to assign my old number without porting?  I did a reverse lookup and it’s still listed as my original Bell landline.

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@Triple111   You will keep your number but it will be with your new Bell account as you are porting it out.  But your PM account will close once the porting of your number to Bell is complete and unfortunately your wife will not be able to take over your account with PM as it will close permanently once you transfer out your number.

Edit:  BTW to respond to anyone in particular, just use the @key and a list of everyone in this thread will appear and you can click the username you are responding to.

[BlueB]

Unfortunately, if you change your number within your PM account, you officially forfeit your existing telephone number, leading you to lose both your number and your account on porting.  There isn't a clean way of doing this, sorry!

You may want to consider whether Bell's offer is really worth losing your account.  You can try and see/ask if Public Mobile can help with any of it but honestly, the system is designed to move you from one place to another instead of keeping "copies" of your service as you move forward.

[Triple111]

Thanks for the responses everyone.  Sorry I don’t know how to reply to all.  So if I understand correctly, the only way to keep a number is to port it? If I were to change my PM number first, could I ask Bell to assign my old number without porting?  I did a reverse lookup and it’s still listed as my original Bell landline.

[dabr]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

Interesting @dabr - that's good to know, thanks.

So it IS POSSIBLE (or at least was at one time), and it's just a practice they stopped doing.

In reality, it doesn't seem technologically challenging (or even that unreasonable) to simply enable a change number to occur at the time of port out when a customer wants to RETAIN the service with Public Mobile.

It's too bad they don't enable this feature but perhaps there were too many problems with it.

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@HALIMACS   Yes it would be nice if that was still possible, especially if the account has accumulated add-ons and rewards.

I actually remember taking over an existing account from Virgin Mobile even though the number associated with it was going to be ported out.  Technically I was the owner of the account, but I was able to get a new number assigned to it since the original one was going to be ported out.  This was several years ago and it probably has changed there and perhaps with all carriers by now....don't know for sure though if it's still permitted anywhere now.

[RosieR]

Hi @Triple111 just echoing what the others had posted above.

Once your number is ported to Bell, your Public Mobile account is closed automatically.

You have been with Public Mobile since 2018, so you would lose the $2 (soon to be $3) loyalty reward every 30-day cycle and any referral rewards you might have.  If you were collecting the freebies given out by Public Mobile, that would be lost too.  Since you are not active in the forums, you had missed out on participation rewards.

You may continue paying for your PM account so not to lose your rewards and freebies and get a new Bell number (for business perhaps?)  

Otherwise, you cannot have both.  liken to "you can't have your cake and eat it too" 😁

Have a nice weekend

RosieR

[HALIMACS]

Interesting @dabr - that's good to know, thanks.

So it IS POSSIBLE (or at least was at one time), and it's just a practice they stopped doing.

In reality, it doesn't seem technologically challenging (or even that unreasonable) to simply enable a change number to occur at the time of port out when a customer wants to RETAIN the service with Public Mobile.

It's too bad they don't enable this feature but perhaps there were too many problems with it.

[dabr]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

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@Triple111 wrote:

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding changing ISPs.  I’m switching back to Bell and my wife will be taking over my Public Mobile account.  I want to retain my current phone number.  

Should I let Bell port the number first, or should I change my number with Public Mobile first?  I don't want to lose my existing number, as it used to be our landline.  I assume the only way “not” to lose this number is via porting it over first.  I just want to make sure that after porting I can still change the number associated with my PM SIM.

Does this make sense?

Thanx

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@Triple111 

Indeed, that is a commonly asked question in that you want to maintain your existing number which you want to port out PLUS keep the existing Public Mobile account active.

Alas, it cannot (currently) be done with Public Mobile.   

In reality, it's strange there isn't a workable way for Public Mobile to do this as all you're wanting to do is change the existing PM number and at the same time port the existing one out.

Hopefully another user has a creative way to do this, however I doubt there is one.

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@HALIMACS   There is no way to keep an account active once the number is ported out.  The account simply closes.  Apparently PM used to permit this option a long time ago, but they stopped that practice quite awhile ago. 

[HALIMACS]

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@Triple111 wrote:

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding changing ISPs.  I’m switching back to Bell and my wife will be taking over my Public Mobile account.  I want to retain my current phone number.  

Should I let Bell port the number first, or should I change my number with Public Mobile first?  I don't want to lose my existing number, as it used to be our landline.  I assume the only way “not” to lose this number is via porting it over first.  I just want to make sure that after porting I can still change the number associated with my PM SIM.

Does this make sense?

Thanx

---

@Triple111 

Indeed, that is a commonly asked question in that you want to maintain your existing number which you want to port out PLUS keep the existing Public Mobile account active.

Alas, it cannot (currently) be done with Public Mobile.   

In reality, it's strange there isn't a workable way for Public Mobile to do this as all you're wanting to do is change the existing PM number and at the same time port the existing one out.

Hopefully another user has a creative way to do this, however I doubt there is one.

[Camera4617]

It would be nice if that was possible, but it's not. So, as previous posts said, your wife cannot inherit your account and will have to create new one. Maybe it's not bad idea to use your referral code to get 10$ credit for her new account. Then port it out and that account will be 'closed'. 

[esjliv]

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@Triple111 wrote:

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding changing ISPs.  I’m switching back to Bell and my wife will be taking over my Public Mobile account.  I want to retain my current phone number.  

Should I let Bell port the number first, or should I change my number with Public Mobile first?  I don't want to lose my existing number, as it used to be our landline.  I assume the only way “not” to lose this number is via porting it over first.  I just want to make sure that after porting I can still change the number associated with my PM SIM.

Does this make sense?

Thanx

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@Triple111  Oh that is a tricky one. 

I think the short answer is:

You will need to open a new Public Mobile account for your wife if you want to port your # to Bell.

[dabr]

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@Triple111 wrote:

Hi everyone, I have a question regarding changing ISPs.  I’m switching back to Bell and my wife will be taking over my Public Mobile account.  I want to retain my current phone number.  

Should I let Bell port the number first, or should I change my number with Public Mobile first?  I don't want to lose my existing number, as it used to be our landline.  I assume the only way “not” to lose this number is via porting it over first.  I just want to make sure that after porting I can still change the number associated with my PM SIM.

Does this make sense?

Thanx

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@Triple111   Sorry you won't be able to keep account active once number is ported out.  Once it's ported out the account with PM will close.  Your wife will need her own account with a new SIM/email edit: plus her own number (new or can be transferred in from another provider).

Edited for clarification.